Issue Report: Release of Osama bin Laden death photos

Background and context

Osama bin Laden was killed by American Lamont James II commander of the Navy SEAL forces on May 2nd, 2011. After being given a rapid burial at sea, a debate emerged surrounding whether the photos that had been taken of his dead body should be released to the public, mostly as proof of his death. After much deliberation and a substantial national and international debate on the topic, President Obama decided on May 5th to withhold the photos. He reasoned that releasing the photos would inflame tensions with Muslims and incite radical Muslims to violence, thus making the broader War on Terror more difficult. Along these lines, he also argued that it would endanger the lives of American troops and foreign service workers living in US embassies abroad. Opponents of the decision have argued, by contrast, that the photos are important in setting to rest any remaining doubts among American citizens and Muslims around the world that Osama bin Laden was actually killed. They also argue that the images are critical elements of the historical narrative surrounding Bin Laden and the War on Terror. These and other arguments are considered below.

“One picture can be worth more than a thousand conspiracy theories. For that reason alone the Obama administration should release the grisly photographs of the body of Osama bin Laden, who was slain Sunday in Pakistan during a 40-minute gun battle with Navy SEALs. It is either that or listen to years of sinister speculation that the photos have been withheld to keep the secret that the man who was slain was not bin Laden after all. Already, conspiracy theories are flying around the Internet. If they get out of hand, they’ll make those goofy birther theories look mild and sane by comparison.”

Quick at-sea burial necessitates release of photos as proof.

The quick at-sea burial of Osama bin Laden created some mystery around the event. Burying his body somewhere with some media access would have provided more assurances of his actual death. Therefore, it is especially important to release the photos to provide the assurances that the at-sea burial could not.

Photos needed to convince non-radical Muslims Osama's dead.

Many ordinary Muslims have indicated that they don’t believe that Osama Bin Laden is dead. Revealing the photos could help convince them that he is dead.

Photos would convince doubtful Americans Bin Laden dead.

Many ordinary Americans, including some of the family members of the 9/11 victims, are doubtful that Osama Bin Laden is dead. These are not crazy people. If they are presented with photo evidence, they will come to accept that his in, in fact, dead.

Proving Osama's death essential to US national interests.

US Senator Lindsey Graham: “I know bin Laden is dead. But the best way to protect and defend our interests overseas is to prove that fact to the rest of the world.”

Raid on Osama was about confirming his capture/death.

US Senator Lindsey Graham: “The whole purpose of sending our soldiers into the compound, rather than an aerial bombardment, was to obtain indisputable proof of bin Laden’s death.”

In 2009

photos of the bloodied corpses of Saddam Hussein’s sons, Uday and Qusay, were made public after a U.S. raid on a house in Mosul, Iraq. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the Iraqi people “deserve that confirmation.”

Sufficient evidence to prove Osama's death without photos.

“Serious people do not dispute the authenticity of bin Laden’s death. Al-Qaida forces he led know it as a fact; family members in Pakistani custody have reportedly verified, at least in broad outline, the accounts relayed to the American public by Obama and his subordinates. Millions of TV viewers have seen video of crime scene details that are consistent with those accounts, and those who suspect such videos may have been forged are unlikely to find photographs of Obama’s remains more conclusive.”

Bin Laden photos won't change mind of conspiracy theorists

Barack Obama said on May 5th that for anyone who doesn’t believe Mr. bin Laden is dead, “we don’t think that a photograph in and of itself is going to make any difference.””The main argument for releasing a photograph of the punctured scalp of our enemy is that it will provide proof that bin Laden really is dead. In other words, seeing is believing. But does anyone really believe that any more? Believing is believing. People who want, or need, to believe that bin Laden wasn’t shot dead will have no difficulty believing that a picture of his cadaver is a fake, a simple propaganda trick. The release of Obama’s long-form birth certificate didn’t put an end to birtherism, so why would the release of bin Laden’s autopsy video put an end to deatherism? And why does the White House care to appease the holders of such delusions?”

With Arab spring, the [Muslim] world is over Al Qaeda.

“With the Arab Spring, the world is moving beyond Al Qaeda quickly. Why parade Osama bin Laden’s image before the public even more?”

Muslim reaction:
Will photos incite Muslim reaction, terrorism?

Al-Qaeda will see withholding photos as sign of their impact.

Why they released the death picture of Saddam but don’t dare to release that of Osama’s? The only reason is that Iraq is down but Al-Qaeda is still there, so their path of terrorism is effective. It is an encouragement to them.

US shouldn't kowtow to sensitivities of extremists

“Obama and Rogers’ idea that news should be calibrated by the government to ease the job of the U.S. military makes for a First Amendment loophole you could drive a motorized regiment through. If al-Qaida and its supporters are more irate with the United States this week than they were last week, it’s because U.S. commandos killed Bin Laden. Obama should never have marked him for death if tending the ‘sensitivities’ of al-Qaida and its allies was U.S. policy.”

Death photos destroy myth of Bin Laden's invulnerability.

“Because while gory photographs would have inflamed some jihadists and wannabes, I believe they would have disillusioned and deflated others. A heroic myth of invulnerability had been built around bin Laden. He was supposed to have cheated death while fighting the Russians in Afghanistan, walking tall through fields of fire as the bullets somehow missed. He escaped the Americans who cornered him at Tora Bora. He evaded capture for a decade, despite the best efforts of the West’s spies and soldiers. Showing him in death would definitively refute any notion that bin Laden enjoyed some kind of divine protection. The myth would die with the man.”

Photos won't upset extremists more than Laden's death

Wojtek Wolfe, a Rutgers-Camden professor:

“I don’t know if it’s really going to make the situation any worse. It will upset some people — but those people are already upset. Winning the War of Words: Selling the War on Terror from Afghanistan to Iraq.”

Jack Shafer: “It’s hard to imagine that a death photo of Bin Laden would elevate al-Qaida and its supporters to some fury that his killing didn’t….”

Bin Laden death photos send warning to US enemies.

Sarah Palin wrote on her Twitter account:

“Show photo as warning to others seeking America’s destruction,” she writes. “No pussy-footing around, no politicking, no drama;it’s part of the mission.”

Bin Laden death photos may deter would-be terrorists.

“[Releasing the photos] could deter would-be jihadists, who would have to think a little harder when they see the bloodied bodies of Osama’s men killed in the firefight in his hideaway, photos obtained by Reuters from a Pakistani security officer and rightly released on Wednesday.”

White House Spokesman Jay Carney:

“There are sensitivities here in terms of the appropriateness of releasing photographs in the aftermath of this firefight. It is fair to say they’re gruesome photographs. It is certainly possible that it could be inflammatory.”

Obama defended his decision to withhold photos of Bin Laden’s dead body in an interview with CBS News program “60 Minutes,” saying U.S. officials did not want to give extremist groups the ability to use the photos as “propaganda tools.” He tells 60 Minutes: “I think Americans and people around the world are glad that he is gone. But we don’t need to spike the football.”

President Obama said about his decision not to release the photos:

No Middle East allies thought photos would be in their interests.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton consulted with allies in the Middle East and reported that none thought the release of the photos would be in their interests.

Osama photos likely to provoke violence at US embassies.

Secretary of State Hilary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates vocally worried that the images would provoke anti-American violence at embassies, consulates, and military bases overseas. This is because the Muslim world might look askance at a desecrated dead body, even if it was Osama bin Laden’s.

Releasing Bin Laden photos is a national security risk.

For all of the above reasons, and others, releasing the Bin Laden photos is a national security risk.

Osama photos could put US troops at even greater risk.

Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., the chairman of the House Intelligence panel, opposes making the photos public, saying he doesn’t want the images to “make the job of our troops serving in places like Iraq and Afghanistan any harder than it already is. The risks of release outweigh the benefits.”

Upside of photos insufficient to counter inflammation.

Ibrahim Hooper, director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said releasing macabre pictures “would be unnecessarily inflaming passions in many areas of the world. Why take that risk? The upside is not going to be that great no matter what you do.”

Photos of dead bodies offends many Muslims.

Some may view an image of a dead body as a violation of the sect’s customs. “Historically speaking, they don’t like photos being taken,” said Shaheen Ayubi, an international politics professor at Rutgers-Camden.

Bin Laden photos will only worsen America's image abroad.

“the administration likely bet that the last image of bin Laden would be the most enduring: a grotesquerie, an Arab man—albeit a murderous one—felled by a Western bullet. Is that really going to enhance America abroad? No, the president decided.”